Viewing NOAA 30 Year Climate Data in Google Earth

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Viewing NOAA 30 Year Climate Data in Google Earth

To provide a unique interactive experience viewing climate data, download Google Earth at http://www.google.com/earth/index.html and open the following link NOAA 30 Year Climate Data http://globe.gov/docs/climate_influences/NOAA 30 Year Climate Data.kml

Getting Started: When the NOAA 30 Year Climate Data set opens in Google Earth, Click on Viewing NOAA 30 Year Climate Data in Google Earth, highlighted in blue in the side menu bar. This will display a pop up window with links to instructional documents (Image 1).

(Image 1)

Displaying Data: To display City Data, select the city by clicking on it either on the side menu bar or on the map display. To download the city data, select the format, Excel or CSV, below the graph. (Image 2)

(Image 2)

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To enlarge the graph inside of Google Earth, simply click on the graph. To return to the map display select Back to Google Earth at the top left. (Image 3)

(Image 3)

Data Formatting

Temperature Daily mean air temperature is calculated by averaging the hourly air temperatures in one day. Monthly mean air temperature is calculated by averaging the mean daily air temperature for a given month. In some countries, it will be necessary to convert temperature values from degrees Fahrenheit to degrees Celcius: (°F – 32) x 5/9 = °C

A long-term monthly mean air temperature is calculated by averaging the mean monthly air temperature (for a given month) over several years. This data set is from the year 1979 to 2008.

Precipitation Daily precipitation is the total amount of precipitation that falls in a given day. Monthly precipitation is the sum of the daily precipitation totals for a given month. In some countries, it will be necessary to convert precipitation from inches to millimeters: inches x 25.4 = millimeters

A long-term monthly total precipitation is calculated by averaging the monthly total precipitation (for a given month) over several years. This data set is from the year 1979 to 2008.

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Explore Further See the GLOBE Seasons and Biomes: How to make a Climograph from Your Local Weather Data Activity (http://globe.gov/docs/climate_influences/Seasons-Biomes_ClimographActivity-10-28-2010.pdf)

This learning activity allows Students to explore air temperature and precipitation data for their general area. Students calculate simple statistics (30- year means) and make a climograph, also known as a time series, of their calculated values.

Finding and Formatting Temperature, Precipitation & Location Data for Student Research

Find the Latitude and Longitude of a Study Site (city)

Use the MY NASA Data Lat / Long Tool to locate your location anywhere on earth http://mynasadata.larc.nasa.gov/LatLon.html Pan and zoom the map to find your location and double click to show your latitude and longitude.

Temperature & Precipitation Data Set

1) Open the NOAA NNDC Climate Data Server http://www7.ncdc.noaa.gov/CDO/cdoselect.cmd?datasetabbv=GSOD&countryabbv=&georegionabbv= 

2) Select your Region or Country (Click Continue) 3) Select your State or Region if needed (Click Continue) 4) Select the desired weather station (Click Continue 

Select time range: All other values should remain on default (Click Continue) 

5) When data opens in a new window, right click (Your txt file) and select (save link as) to save your data. 

6) Data Variable (TEMP): Mean temperature for the day (measured in degrees Fahrenheit) 7) Data Variable (PRCP): Total precipitation for the day (measured in inches) 

NOAA NNDC Data Documentation can be found at the following link http://www7.ncdc.noaa.gov/CDO/GSOD_DESC.txt